It”s a good week for Justin Bieber: His new single, “Boyfriend,” enters the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 2 based on sky-high digital sales and tremendously strong acceptance at Top 40 radio.
“Boyfriend” sold a staggering 521,000 copies this week, making it the fourth highest sales week for any digital song (debut or otherwise). The record still belongs to Flo Rida”s “Right Round,” which sold 636,000 copies in 2009.
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Additionally, “Boyfriend” registered 3,961 plays at radio in its first week, the best opening tally for a sol male artist in the nearly 20 years of the Mainstream Top 40 chart, according to Billboard. As we wrote earlier, “Boyfriend” sounds like it”s the record that will make Bieber a radio star: his Top 40 performance so far has been strong, but not commiserate with the other areas of his success. His previous peak on the Billboard Hot 100 was No. 5 with “Baby” in 2010.
In other “Boyfriend” news, Bieber has released another tease from the song”s video, which we embedded below. The video seems much more serious than the song itself. Bieber told MTV News that the concert was not a linear one and that the action interspersed with dancing footage. The full video will come out soon.
As strong as “Boyfriend” is, it was not enough to knock fun.”s “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae out of the top spot, where it has lodged for its fifth week. Even though the song has slipped in digital downloads, it still sold an impressive 363,000 copies and continues to gain in airplay.
Still doubting there”s a boy band and overall youth resurgence happening? The Wanted”s “Glad You Came” remains in the top 5, slipping one to No. 4, while the biggest band in the phenomenon, One Direction, (they just sold out Madison Square Garden, for goodness sake, sees its first single enter the Top 10: One Direction”s “What Makes You Beautiful” rises 11-9. Bieber protege Carly Rae Jepson”s “Call Me Baby” soars 18-10.
As for the rest of the Top 10, Gotye”s “Somebody That I Used To Know” featuring Kimbra, the sleeper hit of 2012, rises one spot to No 3, while Kelly Clarkson”s former No. 1, “Stronger” falls 2-5.
Rounding on the bottom half: Nicki Minaj”s “Starships” drops 5-6, while Flo Rida”s “Wild Ones” featuring Sia and Katy Perry”s “Part of Me” hold at 7 and 8, same as last week.
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