Chart Watch: Ke$ha Reaches For Record Despite Black Eyed Peas Gains

Ke$ha makes it two months on top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week.  That gives the trashy pop tart the record for the longest time spent at No. 1 by a debut female artist since Debbie Boone in 1977 with the delightful "You Light Up My Life" which spent ten weeks on top.  Let's hope that's a record Ke$ha doesn't break.

In terms of female musicians in the 21st century, Ke$ha surpasses two pop stars who spent seven weeks each at No. 1 with their first single.  Ciara did so in 2004 with "Goodies" as did Katy Perry more recently in 2008 with "I Kissed A Girl".

Several other singers have done even better with their first single, namely Ashanti, Beyonce, and Kelly Rowland, but each singer's previous appearance in a charting song such as Beyonce and Kelly in all of their Destiny's Child hits, disqualify them.

So, with only two or three weeks left to either equal or break the record for female debut singles, what are the chances that "Tik Tok" can pull it off?

For all eight of these past weeks, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga has sat patiently at No. 2 waiting to storm the penthouse.  That never happened.  Gaga's strongest weeks of digital sales failed to line up with her strongest weeks of airplay, robbing her of a third chart topper.  This week, "Bad Romance" tumbles to No. 5.

Besides Lady Gaga, there hasn't been anyone who seems like they have a hit capable of knocking "Tik Tok" from the top.  For several weeks it seemed like we would experience something similar to this past summer where the Black Eyed Peas refused to loosen their grip on No. 1, and absolutely no song was strong enough to take it (although six tried).

What we are experiencing with Ke$ha seems very similar, and the irony is that as of this week, our greatest savior from the domination of "Tik Tok" is the Peas themselves.

"Imma Be", the group's fourth single from The E.N.D., is exploding in a way I didn't see coming.  This last summer, when their third single, "Meet Me Halfway", began climbing the charts, I feared that the Peas would becoming the first artists to have three consecutive No. 1s.  Luckily, that failed to materialize as "Halfway" stalled at No. 7 and it seemed like the B.E.P.'s success on the Hot 100 was just a massive chart anomaly.  Not if Will.I.Am has anything to do with it.

"Imma Be" jumped 4-2 this week and is the most downloaded song in the country and ranked 16th for radio, up from 20th where it was last week.  The group performed the song at the Grammy awards which no doubt has added to their sales, but it seems like America is just a Black Eyed Peas nation and "Halfway"s inability to crack the top three represents a temporary weariness from Fergie and Co.

Watch this space next week as the two songs battle it out for No. 1.

1. "Tik Tok" - Ke$ha (8th week at No. 1)
2. "Imma Be" - Black Eyed Peas
3. "Need You Know" - Lady Antebellum
4. "BedRock" - Young Money feat. Lloyd
5. "Bad Romance" - Lady Gaga
6. "Sexy Chick" - David Guetta feat. Akon
7. "Hey Soul Sister" - Train
8. "How Low" - Ludacris
9. "I Gotta Feeling" - Black Eyed Peas
10. "Replay" - Iyaz