A quiet week for the chart sees positive action for Leon Bridges, Hunter Hunted, and R5. Only one debut makes the chart, Hunter Hayes’s “Young And In Love” at #95, but a quartet of re-entries appear as well from Hayes, Charlie Puth featuring Meghan Trainor, Bea Miller, and POWERS.

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In its 23rd week at the top, Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up And Dance” sets a record for the highest number of chart weeks at #1, surpassing the previous 22-week record set by Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep.” (In the earliest days of my personal chart, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera’s “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely” reigned for a total of 41 weeks at #1 in 2002, though only over five charts, as I was not yet compiling them on a weekly basis.) Meanwhile, Carly Rae Jepsen moves into the top ten with “E·MO·TION.”

The week’s highest debut comes from former chart-topper Martin Luke Brown, whose new song “Scars On Scars” enters at #68. New singles from Grizfolk, Demi Lovato, Hunter Hayes featuring Lady Antebellum, and Jess Glynne also enter, as does newcomer FLETCHER and a new album cut from both Kacey Musgraves and Tori Kelly.

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Jamie Scott makes a #7 debut with “Unbreakable” as Usher and Nicki Minaj join him in the top ten with “She Came To Give It To You.” Maroon 5 and Kimbra also score debuts within the top forty with new preorder singles from each of their upcoming albums. Additional debuts include Hunter Hayes, Sir Sly, a pair of songs from Bernhoft, and Echosmith.

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The GRAMMY Awards are often described as Music’s Biggest Night. While the awards ceremony typically lives up to the moniker with star-studded performances and gramophone trophies for hundreds of artists across many genres each year, iTunes charts also show how music sales are impacted, providing the year’s first prominent sales increase following the post-Christmas bump fueled by gift card redemptions. Many of the songs featured during the 56th GRAMMY Awards broadcast on January 26 received significant jumps on the iTunes song chart throughout and following the show, and numerous songs heard in its music-centric commercials felt the benefit of exposure as well. The statistics below reflect positions on the US iTunes chart of about 1500 songs, tracked from the beginning of the broadcast in the Eastern time zone at 8:00pm to the end of the Western time zone broadcast at 2:40am Eastern. Continue reading “iTunes sales surge for Daft Punk, John Legend, and more following the 56th GRAMMY Awards”

These are one hundred songs that stayed in my heavy rotation throughout 2013. In a year that saw personal advancements including eight weeks studying abroad in France and graduation from college, these songs soundtracked my year, each song appealing to me through instrumentation, lyrics, or just its overall mood. Read on for descriptions of each track, access the whole playlist on SoundCloud to listen, and judge away.
Continue reading “Kurt’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2013”