Sales are still up from last year, it's just that songs in the lower portions of the chart are selling more, and older songs are probably selling more instead of the Top 10 selling more.
Rihanna matches her longest command of the Billboard Hot 100, as "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, spends a seventh week at No. 1.
She had previously led for seven frames with "Umbrella," featuring Jay-Z, in 2007 and as a guest on Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" last year.
"Found" equals Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" - the year's No. 1 Hot 100 song - for the chart's longest rule this year. The last song to lead the list longer? Ke$ha's "TiK ToK," which began clocking a nine-week domination in January 2010.
"Found" extends its stay in the Hot 100's penthouse by spending a fourth week at No. 1 on Radio Songs with 146 million all-format audience impressions (up 2%), according to Nielsen BDS. On the Digital Songs chart, the track holds at No. 2 for a third frame, after five frames at No. 1, with 149,000 downloads sold (down 9%), according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Below Rihanna's Hot 100 leader, LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" logs a sixth week at No. 2. The cut rebounds 3-1 on Digital Songs, although with a 5% decrease to 149,000 downloads sold, while holding at No. 2 on Radio Songs (110 million, down 1%). While it still could command the Hot 100 in coming weeks, "Sexy" has spent the most time peaking at No. 2 since Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (seven weeks, 2009-10).
2010 : Tik Tok (9 weeks at #1) and Bad Romance (7 weeks at #2)
2011: We Found Love (7 weeks at #1 so far) and Sexy And I Know It (6 weeks at #2)
"We Found Love" could match "Tik Tok" reign at #1! I remember in the first weeks of release there were people saying WFL was going to underperform and now it is one of the longest running #1 hits of the 10's so far!
Wow, We Found Love and Sexy And I Know It are doing the exact same thing that Tik Tok and Bad Romance did. Hopefully WFL starts dropping soon, I don't want anyone matching Kesha's peak.
SAIKI and IWR have peaked, they will start dropping soon. If radio keeps increasing, The One That Got Away could MAYBE get to number 1. Of course, Katy could ensure this by doing an awesome remix with someone big.
Set Fire To The Rain is coming though. It will probably reign for all of January.