Three In Twenty...

[From Billboard]

Singles Minded
By Silvio Pietroluongo, Minal Patel, Wade Jessen
December 08, 2001

NEW HEIGHTS: Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" earns Greatest Gainer/Airplay honors on The Billboard Hot 100 for a second time in three weeks, inching up 4-3. "Remind" increases its audience by 16.5 million listeners for a total of 120.5 million, becoming the first rock track—and ninth song overall—to surpass the 120-million listener barrier. The previous rock record- holder was Santana Featuring Rob Thomas' "Smooth," which hit 116 million listeners in the Dec. 4, 1999, issue.

EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK: Ja Rule moves 31-20 on The Billboard Hot 100 with "Always on Time," giving him three songs in the top 20. "Time," which features Ashanti, joins his Jennifer Lopez collaboration "I'm Real," which slips to No. 7, and "Livin' It Up," which climbs 8-6.

Since 1991, when the Hot 100 began using Broadcast Data Systems and SoundScan data, only two other artists have placed three songs inside the top 20 in the same week. The last time this occurred was in the May 30, 1998, issue, when Master P ranked at No. 12 as a featured artist on Montell Jordan's "Let's Ride," at No. 16 with "Make 'Em Say Uhh!," and at No. 20 with "I Got the Hook Up!" The other artist to achieve the trifecta was Whitney Houston, who did it for three weeks in March 1993 with The Bodyguard smashes "I Will Always Love You," "I'm Every Woman," and "I Have Nothing."

On the Hot 100 Airplay chart, Ja Rule is one rank away from equaling this feat, as "Livin' " jumps 28-21. If the song breaks into the top 20 next week, he will become the third act to do so on that chart and the first in more than eight years. Houston initially did it with the aforementioned tracks in the Feb. 27 and March 6, 1993, issues, and Janet Jackson was the last to turn the trick in the Sept. 18, 1993, issue with "If," "Again," and "That's the Way Love Goes."

FROM GEORGIA ON A FAST TRAIN: Although we in the biz tend to overuse the descriptive "instant classic," Alan Jackson is the new poster boy for the phrase, as his "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" continues to turn heads and hearts. Up 882 detections, Jackson's ballad lassos the biggest gain on Hot Country Singles & Tracks, rocketing 12-6 in its third week. His current top 10 invasion is his fastest sprint to that part of the chart since "Little Bitty" hit No. 9 in the Nov. 9, 1996, issue of Billboard.

Comfortably poised to crack the top five next issue, "World" should beat Jackson's prior record for top five ink, as "Little Bitty' and 1994's "Summertime Blues" each needed five weeks to get to that level.

BALANCED TEAM: A seasoned veteran and a poised rookie, both of whom have had No. 1 albums recently, enter Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks' top 10 with second singles from those sets, as Michael Jackson's "Butterflies" moves 11-9 and "A Woman's Worth" by Alicia Keys advances 13-10.

"Butterflies" charts higher than the first Invincible single, "You Rock My World," which peaked at No. 13 and is currently at No. 28. Embraced by R&B radio, "Butterflies" is the only upward-bound airplay-only track in that chart's top 10. "Butterflies" is also Jackson's highest-charting R&B single since "You Are Not Alone" spent four weeks at No. 1 during September 1995.

In its ninth chart week, "A Woman's Worth," from Keys' Songs in A Minor, also reaches the top 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart (No. 9). Although a 12-inch of "Worth" contributes points to its Singles & Tracks rank, it does not garner enough sales to dent R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales.

SELLING POINTS: Enya's "Only Time" is the highest-debuting song on Hot 100 Singles Sales, coming in at No. 3 with 14,000 units scanned. "Time" joins her seasonal hit "Olche Chium (Silent Night)" on the chart, as "Chium" climbs 74-49 with a 60% gain (1,000 units). "Chium" actually holds two slots on the chart, as it is also the B-side to the newly released "Time."

RCA Records launched its "Double Play" series of CD singles, combining two hits from their artists on one single. One of these releases—Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle/Come On Over Baby . . ."—makes it onto the Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart (No. 63). Both tracks topped the sales chart as separate singles in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Lou Bega, Natalie Imbruglia, and Robyn are in the program, too, marking the first time that Bega's "Mambo No. 5" or Imbruglia's "Torn" have been released as retail singles.

NEWSFILE: 30 NOVEMBER 2001