Kesha lands her second No. 1 album as Rainbow enters the Billboard 200 in the top spot. The singer opened at No. 1 with her 2010 debut album, Animal. Her second full-length album, Warrior, debuted and peaked at a disappointing No. 6 in December 2012. Dr. Luke executive produced the first two albums. The producer and Kesha are now locked in a bitter legal battle. Kesha filed a civil suit against Dr. Luke in October 2014 for infliction of emotional distress, gender-based hate crimes and employment discrimination.
Many female artists have expressed support for Kesha in the ongoing legal battle. While accepting an award at the Brit Awards, Adele stated, “I’d also like to take this moment to publicly support Kesha.”
Ryan Lewis and Ricky Reed are among the producers of the new album.
The album’s lead single, the power ballad “Praying,” is likely to make the top 10 on the Hot 100. Animal spawned four top 10 hits, including the No. 1 “TiK ToK.” A subsequent EP, Cannibal, yielded two top 10 hits, including the No. 1 “We R Who We R.” Warrior produced one top 10 hit, the No. 2 smash “Die Young.”
Kesha is the fifth female solo artist to land a No. 1 album in 2017. She follows Halsey, Katy Perry, Lorde and Lana Del Rey. This is the first time that five albums by female solo artists have hit No. 1 by the first week of September (this week corresponds to Billboard‘s Sept. 2 issue) since 2011, when seven albums by female artists (Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Adele, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Jill Scott and Beyoncé) had topped the chart by this point in the year.
Top Songs
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” (featuring Justin Bieber) tops the Hot 100 for the 15th week. Only one other single has spent as much or more time at No. 1 since the Hot 100 was introduced in 1958. That’s “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, which had 16 weeks on top in 1995-96.
“Despacito” surpasses Los Del Rio’s “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)” to become the longest-running No. 1 hit sung primarily in another language (Spanish). “Despacito” also becomes the longest-running No. 1 hit so far in the 21st Century.
“Despacito” sold 83K digital copies in the U.S. this week, which puts it on top of Top Digital Songs for the 16th week. That’s the longest run at No. 1 in the history of that chart (which dates to October 2004).
“Despacito” is in its 31st week on the Top Digital Songs chart. It’s the first song to rank No. 1 that deep into its run since Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” hit No. 1 in its 47th week on the chart in January 2012.
You may remember that DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One,” which also features Bieber, interrupted “Despacito’s” reign at No. 1 on Top Digital Songs for one week. Thus, this is the 17th consecutive week that Bieber has been featured on the week’s top-selling digital hit—an unprecedented occurrence.
“Despacito” logs its 15th week at No. 1 on Top Streaming Songs, which sets a new record for the most weeks at No. 1 on that chart. The old record was held by Desiigner’s “Panda,” which stayed on top for 14 weeks in 2016.
DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts” (featuring Rihanna & Bryson Tiller) logs its sixth week at No. 2 on the Hot 100. The song includes a prominent sample from Santana’s “Maria, Maria” (featuring The Product G&B), which logged 10 weeks at No. 1 in 2000. Will “Wild Thoughts” also reach No. 1? Probably—but will it hold off long enough to let “Despacito” tie “One Sweet Day”? Stay tuned. “Wild Thoughts” is No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for the sixth week.
Cardi B ‘s “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)” jumps from No. 8 to No. 3 in its seventh week. This is the highest ranking for a single by a female solo artist unaccompanied by another artist since Meghan Trainor’s “No” hit No. 3 in April 2016.
Cardi B is vying to become the first female artist to hit No. 1 unaccompanied by another artist since Adele was out front for 10 weeks in 2015-16 with “Hello.” Cardi B got her big break in 2015, when she became a regular cast member of the VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop: New York.
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Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic rebounds from No. 12 to No. 10 in its 39th week. The album debuted and peaked at No. 2. You may remember that it lost a close first-week sales battle with Metallica’s Hardwired…to Self-Destruct. These two albums are still very close in traditional sales to date. How close? Hardwired has sold 1,046,000. 24K Magic has sold 1,045,000.
By Paul Grein | Yahoo Music
Full article contains videos of most of the songs mentioned above:
https://www.yahoo.com/music/chart-watch-kesha-debuts-no-1-211200609.html