Glee has an unfair advantage when it comes to chart achievements because new songs are released on a weekly basis after they are performed on each episode. It's no surprise that one of their major achievements involves sheer quantity. In just over a year, the cast of Glee landed more songs on the Hot 100 than the Beach Boys and the Temptations did their entire careers. With this week's chart positions calculated into their final count, the cast of Glee has racked up 59 entries on the Hot 100, second only to the Beatles for non-solo acts. Considering what they accomplished with season one, it's likely they will pass up the Beatles 71 total chart entries by next year. The all-time leader in this category is Elvis Presley who has an incredible 151 entries on the chart.
Despite their overwhelming number of chart entries, very few of these tracks charted very high. Every Glee song that has charted did so without any radio airplay and its sales figures were a result of a quick explosion of downloads that tapered off only days after each episode aired. Let's take a quick look at Glee's greatest hits:
No. 4 "Don't Stop Believin'"
No. 16 "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
No. 20 "Poker Face"
No. 23 "Jessie's Girl"
No. 26 "Dream On"
No. 27 "Like A Prayer"
No. 28 "Somebody To Love"
No. 30 "It's My Life/Confessions Pt. II"
No. 31 "Defying Gravity"
No. 31 "I Dreamed A Dream"
No. 32 "Gives You Hell"
No. 34 "Sweet Caroline"
No. 35 "Hello"
No. 40 "Halo/Walking on Sunshine"
Out of those 59 charting songs, only 14 were top 40 hits. That's only 23%. And out of those songs, only one, the epic "Don't Stop Believin'", made it to the top ten. Even Glee's top songs weren't much of hits though. These positions represent where the song debuted on the charts following their strong week in sales, but after that, they tumbled down, or completely off the chart. "Don't Stop Believin'" was an exception, staying on the Hot 100 for seven weeks.
The songs' weak showing is going to be ammunition for Beatles fans if and when their favorite group gets passed up by a high school glee club. When you compare 59 "hits" that lasted a week or two on the charts to a career's worth of material that spent months being played on the radio and sold in stores, it just doesn't compare. Still, of their 59 charting songs, a handful charted higher than the original. The Glee "Don't Stop Believin'" coming in at No. 4 bested Journey's original version that peaked at No. 9 in 1981 while songs like "Last Christmas" and "Gravity" have never before made it to the Hot 100 until Glee took them on.
On the album chart, Glee has twice set the record for shortest time between No. 1 albums. Their first No. 1, The Power of Madonna EP topped the chart the week of May 8. Only four weeks later, Glee: The Music, Volume 3 The Showstoppers went No. 1, a new record. They broke their own record this week, only two weeks later as Journey To Regionals EP bows at the top slot.
FOX has announced the show will be on for at least two more seasons, so we can expect a major rewrite of the record books if Glee can keep their current pace up.
Elsewhere on the chart, Eminem jumps back up into the top ten after one week out of it. With the release of Recovery a week away, sales of "Not Afraid" have jumped. Also, "Animal" by Neon Trees moves 100-93 making this the most successful song from a Utah artist since whenever David Archuleta last did something.
1. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
2. "OMG" - Usher feat. Will.I.Am
3. "Airplanes" - B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams
4. "Billionaire" - Travis McCoy feat. Bruno Mars
5. "Your Love Is My Drug" - Ke$ha
6. "Alejandro" - Lady Gaga
7. "Break Your Heart" - Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris
8. "Not Afraid" - Eminem
9. "Rock That Body" - Black Eyed Peas
10. "Find Your Love" - Drake
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