Chart Watch: "Tik Tok" Rules Over Sleepy Hot 100

This week, only one new song debuted on the Hot 100, "Drop the World" by Lil Wayne featuring Eminem at No. 18. That's more than this week last year when no new songs made the tally.

The post-holiday charts are interesting beasts. Immediately following Christmas, sales are through the roof but, after things cool, the charts become a very uninteresting place. Most of the big releases by big artists came out in November and December and come January, these artists are still promoting their first singles.

Last year, Kelly Clarkson, Eminem, and Flo Rida shook things up a little bit by releasing their albums in the first quarter, and thus "My Life Would Suck Without You", "Crack A Bottle", and "Right Round" managed to stir some excitement in the otherwise lethargic Hot 100. This year however, there doesn't seem to be an equivalent.

What does that mean for the chart's reigning queen, Ke$ha, and her trashy "Tik Tok"?



"Tik Tok" is now the No. 1 song for a third week after selling 394,000 digital downloads and remaining the most downloaded song in the country. Those are impressive numbers considering the singer sold an eye boggling 610,000 downloads last week. That's not even a 50% decrease. As "Tik Tok" remains a top seller and its radio airplay grows (it's currently the fourth most played song on American airwaves), it will remain No. 1 until it either fizzles out, or a song comes along with enough sales and airplay to knock it out. That's easier said than done.

"Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga has seemed like the most likely successor. This week is rises back to its previous position of No. 2 after dropping to No. 3 last week, but "Romance" has the bad luck of its sales peaking before its airplay.

Sales of "Romance" peaked at the end of December before "Tik Tok" over took them. Since then, its airplay, which lagged behind because programmers were still playing "Paparazzi", has taken off. Its currently the second most played song on the radio. Unless "Bad Romance" can get a little boost in either sales or airplay, it will be stuck behind at No. 2.

To make matters even worse, looking at the bottom rungs of the top ten reveal who exactly is out there downloading music right now. "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas and "Party In The U.S.A." by the artist formerly known as Hannah Montana are No. 9 and 10 respectively. These two songs began to slowly climb down the charts in October and November, yet here we are two months later and they've been given new life. It just shows you what 12-year-old girls are getting with their gift cards.

1. Ke$ha - "Tik Tok" (third week at No. 1)
2. Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
3. Iyaz - "Replay"
4. Jay-Z - "Empire State of Mind" feat. Alicia Keys
5. Owl City - "Fireflies"
6. David Guetta - "Sexy Chick" feat. Akon
7. Jay Sean - "Down" feat. Lil Wayne
8. Jason DeRulo - "Whatcha Say"
9. Black Eyed Peas - "I Gotta Feeling"
10. Miley Cyrus - "Party In The U.S.A."