Chart Watch: West Coast Represent - Perry Takes Her "Gurls" to No. 1

     In 2009, the New York Yankees won the World Series as Jay-Z and Alicia Key's Big Apple Anthem, "Empire State of Mind" topped the Hot 100, the first song about New York City to ever do so.  Chart watchers were surprised that a hit so regional in focus managed to get spins at radio stations across the country, especially considering the hated Yankees had just won their 27th World Series.  Let's hope that same scenario doesn't happen in favor of the West coast now.  Unfortunately, California is already halfway there as Katy Perry's "California Gurls" [sic] feat. Snoop Dogg moves up to No. 1 in its fourth week on the chart and the LA Lakers are two wins away from their 17th NBA Championship.

     In an effort to drum up some East Coast-West Coast rivalry (and probably to make her song seem more legit than it actually is), Perry said her song is a response to "Empire State of Mind".

     "It's so great that "Empire State of Mind" is huge and that everyone has the New York song, but what the f***? What about LA? What about California? It's been a minute since we had a California song and especially from a girl's perspective," she said to Rolling Stone.  Katy, don't flatter yourself.


     Unlike "Empire State of Mind", "California Gurls" [sic] isn't the first song about Cali to top the charts.  Three tracks specifically mentioning the state have gone No. 1.  In 1968, Otis Redding was the first with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", written as he watched ships pass in San Fransisco Bay.  In 1977, "Hotel California" by the Eagles became the second, and that was followed by 2Pac's "California Love" featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman in 1996.

     "California Gurls" [sic] becomes the fourth Golden State No.1, and Perry's second (after the equally horrible "I Kissed A Girl" in 2008...or was it "I Kissed A Gurl"?) after rising on both the digital downloads and radio fronts.  The track sold 318,000 copies last week, up 18% from the week before.  Perry can thank her bump in sales from her MTV Movie Awards appearance and increased radio airplay.  "California Gurls" [sic] is now the sixth most played song in America, up from last week's position of No. 10.

     Despite Perry's insistence that this is the West coast's "Empire", "California Gurls" [sic] is more like 2010's "I Gotta Feeling".  Both songs were written for one reason and one reason only - to be a monster hit.  Listening to "Feeling", you can imagine Will.I.Am and David Guetta sitting in a lab somewhere, crafting a pop song about shaking the stress of the week off and getting ready for a night off that people would listen to when they want to shake the stress of the week off and get ready for a night out.  With "Gurls" [sic], you can imagine Max Martin and Dr. Luke in their own lab crafting the perfect song about a California summer that people would listen to when they want to escape to their own California summer for four minutes.  Let's just hope "Gurl" [sic] doesn't stay No. 1 as long as "Feeling" did (Which, by the way, is still charting.  It's at No. 42 this week.).

     Expect Perry to hand around the top for a few more weeks though.  If you check out the website for KISS 108, Boston's No. 1 hit radio stations, "California Gurls" [sic] is their tenth most played song.  I guess even Celtics fans have fallen to Perry's West Coast charm.
 
1. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
2. "OMG" - Usher feat. will.i.am
3. "Airplanes" - B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams
4. "Your Love Is My Drug" - Ke$ha
5. "Billionaire" - Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars
6. "Break Your Heart" - Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris
7. "Alejandro" - Lady Gaga
8. "Nothin' On You" - B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars
9. "Rock That Body" - The Black Eyed Peas
10. "Bulletproof" - La Roux