Due to renewed viral activity, the ballad dethrones Lorde's "Royals" after a nine-week reign. Plus, new No. 1s for Pitbull and Avicii, while A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera reach the Hot 100's top 10
Thanks to the viral explosion of a new parody video of the song, Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song halts the command of Lorde's "Royals" after nine weeks.
Meanwhile, Pitbull's "Timber," featuring Ke$ha, and Avicii's "Wake Me Up!" take over atop the Digital Songs and Radio Songs charts, respectively, and A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera soar into the Hot 100's top 10 with their duet "Say Something."
As we do each Wednesday, let's look deeper into all the numbers.
With top Streaming Gainer honors, "Ball" (3-1) reclaims the Hot 100's top rung for a third total week after "Royals" had ruled for nine frames. "Ball" first topped the chart in the two weeks (Sept. 28, Oct. 5), following the premiere of its official video, prior to Lorde's coronation. The song storms back to the top of the Streaming Songs chart for a ninth week at No. 1 (14-1) with a 137% increase to 18.6 million U.S. streams last week, according to Nielsen BDS.
Spurring the gain? The breakout popularity of the song's parody video, which features its original audio, by YouTuber Stephen Kardynal. The comedian has posted several videos on his channel of him lip-synching hits by female pop stars to unsuspecting viewers on Chatroulette (the video chat service which links random users). In his take on "Ball," the shaggy-haired Kardynal parodies nearly every part of the original's video, complete with him in (almost just) his birthday suit. Viewers' reactions on the left side of the screen enhance the clip's merriment.
Of the song's 18.6 million U.S. streams, 24% are from the track's official Vevo on YouTube video, while 67% are from other YouTube views, including Kardynal's. The remaining 9% of its overall streaming total is from non-YouTube streaming sources.
"Ball" concurrently jumps by 11% to 99,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and rebounds 10-9 on Digital Songs (which it led the week of Sept. 28). Also surely aiding its gains, Cyrus performed the song on the American Music Awards, which aired live on ABC on Sunday, Nov. 24. Having peaked at No, 4 on Radio Songs, "Ball" drops 4-7 on the survey (106 million all-format audience impressions, according to BDS).
More chart honors for Cyrus: The nine-week gap between "Ball" topping the Hot 100 marks the longest in the Hot 100's 55-year history for a song in one chart run. It passes the five-week wait for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" (featuring Wanz), whose six-week total reign was interrupted by Baauer's "Harlem Shake" for five weeks earlier this year. Both breaks, thus, reflect the influence of virality, with the online phenomenon largely pushing "Shake" to the top and, now, a similar bounce for "Ball." (Only Chubby Checker's "The Twist" had a longer break than "Ball" between Hot 100 reigns. It led in September 1960 and again in January 1962, but that was over two separate chart lives.)
The resurgence of "Ball" helps keep Eminem's "The Monster," featuring Rihanna, at No. 2 for a fourth week. Still, the collaboration claims the chart's top Airplay Gainer award for a fourth week, climbing 6-4 on Radio Songs with a 14% increase to 119 million. It racks a third week atop the On-Demand Songs chart (2.2 million, down 12%), while dipping 3-4 on Streaming Songs (5.7 million, down 6%) and falling 1-2 on Digital Songs (after three weeks at No. 1) with 231,000 downloads sold (down 4%). "Monster" spends a fifth week at No. 1 on both Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Rap Songs.
As it bounds by 55% in overall Hot 100 points, "Ball" handily wins the race to No. 1 over "Monster" (up 2%). A 20% difference in points separate the songs.
"Royals" relinquishes its command not only over the Hot 100 (1-3) but also Radio Songs, where it falls 1-2 after six weeks on top (131 million, down 7%). It descends 2-3 on Streaming Songs (5.9 million, down 9%) and 2-5 on Digital Songs (144,000, down 19%). The track tops Hot Rock Songs for a 14th week.
Lorde's 'Team' Video Features... Motorcycle Jousting
Pitbull's "Timber," featuring Ke$ha, stomps 8-4 on the Hot 100, blasting 4-1 on Digital Songs (237,000, up 43%). The track is Pitbull's first No. 1 on Digital Songs after he peaked as high as No. 2 with three titles (2009's "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)," as well as his featured turn on Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor" and "Give Me Everything," the latter two in 2011). Ke$ha collects her third No. 1, following "We R Who We R" and "TiK ToK," both in 2010. Like Cyrus with "Ball," Pitbull and Ke$ha performed "Timber" on the AMAs on Nov. 24.
"Timber" reaches the top 10 on Radio Songs (13-10; 66 million, up 16%), marking Pitbull's 10th top 10 on the tally and Ke$ha's seventh, and Streaming Songs (13-7; 4.5 million, up 41%).
OneRepublic's "Counting Stars" retreats from its No. 4 peak to No. 5 on the Hot 100, although with gains in airplay (108 million, up 13%) and digital sales (175,000, up 5%).
Avicii's No. 4-peaking "Wake Me Up!" slips to No. 6 on the Hot 100, but crowns Radio Songs after a five-week wait at No. 2 (138 million, down 3%). Notably, the multi-format smash marks the first Radio Songs No. 1 by a core EDM lead act; Afrojack and Calvin Harris previously ruled in featured roles. "Wake" dominates Dance/Electronic Songs for a 13th week.
Imagine Dragons' "Demons" drops 6-7 on the Hot 100, fueled most strongly by its rise on Radio Songs (5-3; 121 million, up 7%).
As its album "Midnight Memories" rockets in atop the Billboard 200, One Direction returns to the Hot 100's top 10 with "Story of My Life" (13-8). The track debuted at No. 6 four weeks ago and spent the next three weeks between Nos. 11 and 13.
Katy Perry's former two-week Hot 100 No. 1 "Roar" descends 7-9 (while "Unconditionally," the second single from her album "PRISM," pushes 16-15).
Rounding out the Hot 100's top 10, A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera rocket 18-10 with "Say Something," the chart's top Digital Gainer and another recipient of an AMA-related bump. The ballad zooms 6-3 on Digital Songs (197,000, up 63%) and 45-18 on Streaming Songs (2.6, up 93%). It approaches the 50-position Radio Songs chart (22 million, up 48%).
While A Great Big World reaches the Hot 100's top 10 with its first chart entry, Aguilera lands her 11th top 10 and second this year; she rose to No. 8 in April as a guest on Pitbull's "Feel This Moment." She hadn't notched multiple top 10s in a single year since 2000, when "What Girl Wants" (No. 1, two weeks), "I Turn to You" (No. 3) and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" (No. 1, four weeks), all from her self-titled debut album, reached the top tier. "Say" is also Aguilera's first top 10 with lead billing since October 2008, when her own "Keeps Gettin' Better" debuted at its No. 7 peak.
(Also of note: Effective last week, the methodology for the Hot 100, along with Billboard's genre hybrid songs charts, has changed slightly to rebalance desired chart ratios for sales, airplay and streaming. With streaming usage rising and new streaming services recently added to the Hot 100's data feed, the streaming portion of the chart has been at or above its desired average ratio in recent weeks. Such adjustments to these multi-data pool charts are common, and, for example, were implemented on the Hot 100 on occasions where download sales had increased exponentially.)
Visit Billboard.com tomorrow (Dec. 5), when all rankings, including the Hot 100 in its entirety and Digital Songs, Radio Songs, Streaming Songs and On-Demand Songs will be refreshed, as they are each Thursday. The latest charts will also appear in the next issue of Billboard magazine (on sale on Friday, Dec. 6).
Additional reporting by Keith Caulfield and William Gruger
Rounding out the Hot 100's top 10, A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera rocket 18-10 with "Say Something,"
While A Great Big World reaches the Hot 100's top 10 with its first chart entry, Aguilera lands her 11th top 10 and second this year; she rose to No. 8 in April as a guest on Pitbull's "Feel This Moment." She hadn't notched multiple top 10s in a single year since 2000, when "What Girl Wants" (No. 1, two weeks), "I Turn to You" (No. 3) and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" (No. 1, four weeks), all from her self-titled debut album, reached the top tier. "Say" is also Aguilera's first top 10 with lead billing since October 2008, when her own "Keeps Gettin' Better" debuted at its No. 7 peak.
It reflects actual impact too, showing the true BIGGEST songs
But a video going viral for the wrong reasons isn't really an accurate representation on how popular a song is.
I mean it got like 15 million views from the US alone, that's more than most of the biggest award shows can generate, yet the song couldn't get back in the top10 sales-wise.
I love the new formula, I always thought airplay shouldn't count as much because it's not as user requested. A lot of stations just play top 40 or have a setlist and replay them over and over again whereas streaming is 100% reflection of people's choice for music.
(Have nothing against WB, though)