the latest messy top 10 issue

FYI, for anyone interested: a complete list of all the 3-million-plus selling digital songs. The folks at Pulse Music Board like to keep track of these things.

Top Selling Digital Singles Since 2005


8 Million+
1. I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas

7 Million+
2. Rolling In The Deep - Adele
3. Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO feat. GoonRock & Lauren Bennett

6 Million+
4. Poker Face - Lady Gaga
5. Just Dance - Lady Gaga
6. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra [2012]
7. Boom Boom Pow - The Black Eyed Peas
8. Low - Flo Rida feat. T-Pain
9. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
10. Tik Tok - Ke$ha
11. Dynamite - Taio Cruz
12. Hey Soul Sister - Train
13. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen [2012]

5 Million+
14. Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
15. Firework - Katy Perry
16. Forget You - Cee Lo Green
17. We Are Young - Fun. feat. Janelle Monaé [2012]
18. Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO
19. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
20. Love The Way You Lie - Eminem feat. Rihanna
21. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera
22. Apologize - OneRepublic feat. Timbaland
23. Don't Stop Believing - The Journey
24. Love Story - Taylor Swift
25. California Gurls - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
26. E.T. - Katy Perry
27. Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars
28. Hot n Cold - Katy Perry
29. Grenade - Bruno Mars
30. Right Round - Flo Rida feat. Ke$ha
31. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
32. Someone Like You - Adele
33. Empire State Of Mind - Jay Z feat. Alicia Keys
34. Party In The U.S.A. - Miley Cyrus
35. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - Beyoncé

4 Million+
36. Lose Yourself - Eminem
37. Crank That (Soulja Boy)
38. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
39. Stronger - Kanye West
40. We Found Love - Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
41. Not Afraid - Eminem
42. Fireflies - Owl City
43. OMG - Usher feat. will.i.am
44. Airplanes - B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams
45. Lollipop - Lil Wayne feat. Static Mayor
46. Give Me Everything - Pitbull feat. NeYo & Nayer
47. Disturbia - Rihanna
48. Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
49. So What - P!nk
50. Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
51. Live Your Life - T.I. feat. Rihanna
52. Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
53. Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
54. Payphone - Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa [2012]
55. I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry
56. Down - Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne
57. If I Die Young - The Band Perry
58. Set Fire To The Rain - Adele
59. Whatever You Like - T.I.
60. Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil Wayne
61. You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
62. Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects
63. How To Save A Life - The Fray
64. Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay Z
65. Rockstar - Nickelback
66. Like A G6 - Far East Movement feat. The Cataracs and Dev
67. Heartless - Kanye West
68. SexyBack - Justin Timberlake

3 Million+
69. Replay - Iyaz
70. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
71. Black and Yellow - Wiz Khalifa
72. Raise You Glass - P!nk
73. DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love - Usher
74. I Like It - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
75. Paper Planes - MIA
76. Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie
77. Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) - Kelly Clarkson [2012]
78. We R Who We R - Ke$ha
79. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
80. Whatcha Say - Jason Derulo
81. Starships - Nicki Minaj [2012]
82. Just A Dream - Nelly
83. Imma Be - The Black Eyed Peas
84. Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris
85. No One - Alicia Keys
86. Baby - Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris
87. Bubbly - Colbie Caillat
88. On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
89. Forever - Chris Brown
90. Yeah! - Usher feat. Lil John and Ludacris
91. Look At Me Now - Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes
92. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood
93. Stereo Hearts - Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Lavine
94. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction [2012]
95. Good Feeling - Flo Rida
96. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
97. Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band
98. The Climb - Miley Cyrus
99. Love Song - Sarah Bareilles
100. No Air - Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown
101. Gold Digger - Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
102. Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
103. Wild Ones - Flo Rida feat. Sia [2012]
104. Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna
105. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
106. Lights - Ellie Goulding [2012]
107. Bad Day - Daniel Powter
108. What I've Done - Linkin Park
109. S&M - Rihanna
110. Sexy Bitch - David Guetta feat. Akon
111. Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna
112. Dirt Road Anthem - Jason Aldean
113. The Time (Dirty Bit) - The Black Eyed Peas
114. Womanizer - Britney Spears
115. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
116. You Found Me - The Fray
117. Glad You Came - The Wanted [2012]
118. Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri
119. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) - Katy Perry
120. Billionaire - Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars
121. Smack That - Akon feat. Eminem
122. The Lazy Song - Bruno Mars
123. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
124. Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
125. Don't Trust Me - 3OH!3
126. Paralizer - Finger Eleven
127. Young, Wild and Free - Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg feat. Bruno Mars
128. Pocketful Of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
129. Hips Don't Life - Shakira
130. Lips of an Angel - Hinder
131. Telephone - Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé
132. Bottoms Up - Trey Songz feat. Nicki Minaj
133. Thriller - Michael Jackson
134. Dead and Gone - T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake
135. Just Can't Get Enough - The Black Eyed Peas
136. Irreplaceable - Beyoncé
137. Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha
138. Halo - Beyoncé
139. BedRock - Young Money
140. Forever - Drake feat. Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem
141. Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) - Enrique Iglesias feat. Ludacris
142. Love Lockdown - Kanye West
143. I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) - Pitbull
144. Run This Town - Jay Z feat. Rihanna
145. Fergalicious - Fergie feat. will.i.am
146. Nothin' On You - B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars
147. The Show Goes On - Lupe Fiasco
148. Good Life - OneRepublic
149. Let's Get It Started - The Black Eyed Peas
150. The Way I Are - Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson
151. Boyfriend - Justin Bieber [2012]
152. The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani feat. Akon
153. Blow - Ke$ha
154. It Will Rain - Bruno Mars
155. Our Song - Taylor Swift
156. Fire Burning - Sean Kingston
157. 4 Minutes - Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake
158. In My Head - Jason Derulo
159. Glamorous - Fergie feat. Ludacris
160. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
161. You're Beautiful - James Blunt
162. Some Nights - Fun. [2012]
163. Whistle - Flo Rida [2012]
164. N****s In Paris - Jay-Z & Kanya West
165. No Hands - Waka Flocka Flame


Edited by Brian W.

The One Direction song may still revive somewhat but it will be remembered by this generation of teen girls its being marketed to. Not the same arguement as a countdown single to get folks anticipating an upcoming album ala Taylor or Katy Perry. It's taken Justin Bieber several years to get over the wall radio puts up for teen acts because they think they won't last or lesser their cool factor to get serious Top 40 play.

No one is calling out Adele for Skyfall which crashed even harder that 1D this past week going 13-45 on the Hot 100 after sales initially landed it in the Top 10. One can use the excuse its a Bond theme and not a true follow up to 21 but coming off nine million album sales and four radio smashes you would expect it to have smashed harder than it has....

Just a comment on today's charts (whether manipulated or not). This subject has been mentioned in this post and other posts:

Would you consider a song with these chart stats a big hit:

1 week in the top 20
2 weeks in the top 30
3 weeks in the top 40

... especially if this is the 1st single from an upcoming album, where the previous album peaked at #1 in Billboard.

In the '70s, this would be a medium-sized hit at best ... although a song that only lasted in the top 40 for 3 weeks really wouldn't be considered medium but small (and a song that quickly came and went).

Well, this song peaked at #3 three weeks ago, and by that definition alone could be called a big hit, and especially would be promoted as that by the band's promotion.

Anyway, that's the chart path of One Direction's new single "Live While We're Young":

3 21 31

I just find it so odd these days when peak position (especially in upcoming Joel Whitburn books) makes it look like a big hit, yet by most standards (even radio airplay), this'll not feel like ... or go down in the record books ... as being a really big (known) hit.

Edited by EdisonLite

The chart has always been manipulated from several angles. It
probably always has been but a few that stick out from my years in
music retail. All those free singles goods the labels would give stores
so we would sell them for .49 or .99 cents. Particularly once the majors
got greedy in the late nineties and stopped putting singles out on most
their hits. I would put an asterisk next to a song such as My All by
Mariah Carey or Discoteque by U2 as quickly as some of these Taylor
Swift songs since they were Discount sales driven not an equal balance
of sales and airplay. Another was the whole Destinys Child Bootylicious
vs Mariah Carey Loverboy chart showdown where the labels pushed us
at FYE to sell those titles at the register for a quarter. We were
instructed to push them as replacement kewel cases and toss the CD if
neccessary! They also pulled that with Mikalia So In Love With Two
which ranks as my fakest hit of all time since Universal offered $500
bucks cash to the store that could sell the most copies because once
the label dropped the promotion the next week it crashed down the
chart. Labels also use their pull via promotional goods or appearances
by their top acts with the major stations to get their records on the air or
threaten to pull support so which one is the lesser of two evils at the
end of the day?

budaniel wrote: I definitely agree that there were songs that should have been on the charts back when i was growing up but weren't--particularly songs that got heavy rotation on MTV and were really huge hits.

The Hits Man wrote: I think a lot of that has to do with the continued splintering of the audiences, and the increasing trend of radio narrowing playlists.

In reality, it goes back to the 70s...the Hot 100 only focused on singles, but there were any number of legitimate hit songs that were only album cuts (or the lion's share of sales was albums and/or airplay on AOR stations). "Stairway To Heaven", "Freebird", "Turn The Page"...the list goes on.

Singles and Top 40 radio only told part of the story.