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Britney Spears Is A Woman On Top

415jbaopbel_sl500_aa280_Britney Spears’ Real Doll-ish ode to three-ways “3″ will debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, thanks to the Max Martin-assisted track selling 255,000 copies at digital-music outlets and blanketing pop radio in anamatronic sexiness since its release Sept. 29. (It will enter this week’s Hot 100 Airplay chart, which tracks radio play across the dial, at No. 49.) After the jump, a few fun facts about Britney’s latest chart-topper, and a stream in case you haven’t heard the track yet.


• “3″ is Britney’s third (aww) No. 1 on the Hot 100, following in the footsteps of “… Baby One More Time” in 1999 and “Womanizer” last year. (Chris Molanphy gave Brit’s past chart performance a pretty comprehensive look when “Womanizer” topped the Hot 100 last year.)
• ”3″ is the first single to make a No. 1 debut since Taylor Hicks did it in 2006; also notable is that it’s the first non-American Idol-related song to debut at the top spot in 11 years; back in 1998, Lauryn Hill entered the chart at its summit with “Doo Wop (That Thing).”
• “3″ now owns the title of shortest-titled chart-topper in the history of the Hot 100, breaking the record of three characters jointly held by Frankie Avalon’s “Why,” the Jackson 5’s “ABC,” Edwin Starr’s “War,” Michael Jackson’s “Ben” and “Bad,” Rihanna’s “SOS” and Flo Rida’s “Low.”
• ”3″ is one of a handful of numerically titled songs that have made their way to the Hot 100, although it bested the number in its title. (Unlike Prince’s “7,” which peaked at No. 7 in the early ’90s, and the Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week,” which topped the charts for, haha, one week in 1998.)


And here’s the song:



Farewell, Jay Sean! We knew you when.


‘3′ To 1: Britney Beats Odds To Debut Atop Hot 100 [Billboard]
Britney Spears – 3 (New Single) (HQ) + Download [YouTube]
Earlier: Boy Least Likely: Jay Sean Sinks Black Eyed Peas’ Titanic Run

 
By Maura at 12:00 PM on Wed Oct 14 2009
Posted to:
  • Chris Molanphy
    My only addenda to the above (very thorough):

    • That Airplay chart ranking is important. No. 49 might not look like much, but it's a fairly big start at radio for a new track and probably contributed to her going all the way; 255,000 downloads sold is a lot, but it's no record and might not have been enough to top the Hot 100 on its own.

    • The Lauryn Hill tidbit is very interesting. Crucially, it just predates one of the big-bang changes on the Hot 100 in recent decades: Billboard's inclusion of airplay-only cuts starting in November 1998. That not only changed the makeup of the chart -- allowing non-retail songs to appear on the Hot 100 for the first time -- it also, perversely, made it rarer for a song to debut at No. 1.

    Under the old (pre-Nov. 98) system, the labels would hold a superstar's single from retail for weeks or even months, build its airplay to saturation status, then drop it at retail and, in its first eligible Hot 100 week, it could debut at the top. After '98, that became near-impossible -- most hits by superstars now follow a pattern of early airplay causing a modest debut, then a burst of digital sales propelling the single up the list. This time, somehow, Britney/Jive managed to get the airplay and sales bursts so close together (and so explosively) that one week, there was no early airplay-only debut on the chart, and then the next week, an all-at-once burst in chart points.

    Now, to discuss: will any other act try to repeat this stunt? No. 1 debuts never happened until 1995, with Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone," but then for the next three years a range of superstars managed to repeat it (Mariah, Whitney, Puffy, Celine). Now that Brit's done it, I can see other priority acts wanting their labels to attempt it.
  • Job
    Is the reference to Peter, Paul & Mary implying that we're talking about a man-man-woman situation here? Because I'm not sure I would be into that.
  • @Job: Or that one of the people involved is recently deceased. Take your pick.
  • Thierry
    @Maura: Justin and MJ's corpse, Britney is waiting for you!
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